Paragraphs are one of the basic building blocks in writing and provide structure by grouping a series of sentences that belong together: they help your readers to follow your story without becoming confused.
Each new paragraph within a chapter or section is linked and paragraph breaks let your readers know that a change of some sort is about to happen.
While some authors prefer not to indent their paragraphs, it is more common to see them indented, and readers, especially in fiction, are used to seeing the first line of each new paragraph indented. But again, I refer to that little word, consistency! Whether you choose to indent the first line of each new paragraph or section, or not, the key is to be consistent throughout your book.
Chapter and section breaks are used to show larger changes in your story than paragraphs, including changes in character, location and time. To show this bigger change, convention advises NOT to indent the first line of text in a new chapter or section, regardless of whether it’s narrative or dialogue.
Narrative Layout
Let’s look at an example of layout after a new chapter: the extract taken from Chapter 3 of Lisa Gardner’s hide (p.22, 2007):
It wasn’t dark. Spotlights had been placed in the corner,
moveable light strips hung from the ceiling; crime-scene
technicians needed bright lights for their laborious work.
Bobby kept his gaze focused in front of him, breathing
shallowly through his mouth and processing the scene in
small bits.
The chamber was deep, at least six feet tall; it easily
cleared the top of his head. Wide enough for three people
to stand shoulder to shoulder, it loomed ahead of him for
nearly two full body lengths. Not a random sinkhole, he
thought immediately, but something intentionally and
painstakingly made.
As you can see, paragraph 1 is the first in the chapter and therefore the first line is not indented.
The first lines of the paragraphs that follow it are indented.
Now if we look at the following example taken from Chapter 24 of Lisa Gardner’s hide (p.214, 2007) we can see that the same layout is used after a section break:
He drove me in silence to the vet’s. There, Bella greeted me
with ecstatic frenzy. She twirled, she jumped, she smothered
my face in kisses. I held her longer than I intended,
burying my face in the thick mane at her neck, grateful for
her warmth, her squirming body, her madcap joy.
Then the traitor turned around and jumped on Bobby
with equal enthusiasm. There’s no loyalty in the world.
Bella settled down once I got her to Bobby’s car. She
enjoyed a good car ride as well as the next dog, scooting
close to the passenger’s door so she could decorate the
window with nose prints. She’d already left a trail of fine
white hair all over the recently cleaned seat. It made me
feel better.
Again, paragraph 1 is the first in the section and therefore the first line is not indented.
The first lines of the paragraphs that follow it are indented.
Dialogue Layout
The same convention applies if the chapter or section starts with dialogue, as we can see in the following extract from Chapter 35 of Lisa Gardner's hide (p.340, 2007) which illustrates the layout after a new chapter:
“Would you like some help?” Charlie called down to me.
“oh, ummm, that’s okay. I’m coming up.” Bella was
already bounding up the stairs. Whereas I found Charlie’s
sudden appearance disquieting, she was overjoyed to see
her newest best friend.
Paragraph 1 is the first in the chapter and therefore the first line is not indented.
The first line of the paragraph that follows it is indented.
We use the same layout after a section break, as shown in the following extract taken from Chapter 30 of Lisa Gardner’s hide (p.284, 2007):
“You’re sure you didn’t see anything?” Bobby was asking.
“A car, a person, the back of a coat disappearing down the
street?”
I didn’t answer. Just watched him pace back and forth
in the three-foot expanse of my kitchen.
“What about a voice? Did he speak, make any kind of
sound coming or going up and down the stairs?”
I still didn’t say anything. Bobby had been asking the
same questions for hours now. What little I’d had to offer
was already on record. Now it was about him burning off
steam and trying to come to terms with events I still refused
to accept.
Paragraph 1 is the first in the section and therefore the first line is not indented.
The first lines of the paragraphs that follow it are indented.
Microsoft word tips: text indentation:
We’ve talked about when to indent text, but how do you format it in Word? You should avoid using the space key or the tab key: the tab key inserts an invisible tab character into your text which can mess up the formatting later when your publisher tries to reformat your document for publication. If you’re pressing the spacebar several times to indent your text, you’re wasting effort and will probably end up with a document that has inconsistent spacing. Instead, there are options for paragraph indentation in the Paragraph section of the Home tab. For example:
In the Layout tab you can adjust the indent for each margin using the Paragraph section.
Open the Paragraph Settings menu by clicking the little button right of the same section on the ribbon, then adjust the settings in the Indentation section.
Both of these allow you to set a custom value for indentation for the left and right margins.
1. From the Format menu, choose Paragraph.
2. Click the Indents and Spacing tab.
3. In the Indentation section, select values from the Inside and Outside drop-down lists.
SPECIAL INDENTATION
In the Paragraph Settings menu you will also see a Special section. This will let you indent specific parts of a paragraph rather than the entire passage. One of the options is First Line. This adds an indent on the first line of each paragraph you format and can be used to show where a new paragraph begins.
1. From the Format menu, choose Paragraph.
2. Click the Indents and Spacing tab.
3. In the Indentation section, select First Line from the Special control’s drop-down list.
4. Specify the size of the indentation using the By control’s drop-down list.
And, to check you're happy with your indentations, you can see a preview of your text in the Preview box at the bottom.
Happy writing folks!
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